St. Camillus is excited to announce that we are now LSVT - Lee Silvermann Voice Treatment therapy certified. LSVT- Lee Silvermann Voice Treatment is an effective speech treatment for those diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease or other neurological conditions. This treatment was developed by Dr. Lorraine Ramig and essentially trains those living with Parkinson’s disease to be aware of their perceptions. Specifically, a common set of symptoms that individuals with Parkinson’s suffer from is decreased functioning of motor skills such as intonation of speech, clarity of speech, facial expressions, swallowing and balance. These symptoms cause a variance between how you perceive you are talking and how you actually sound.

Living day in and day out with these communication barriers can be overwhelming. Therefore, LSVT- Lee Silvermann Voice Treatment was created and heavily researched. It has been successful by focusing on three key strategies to make treatment as effective as possible. The three key strategies are: target, mode and calibration. The target is vocal loudness (amplitude), the mode is participating in a large quantity of therapy sessions with intense effort and the end result is calibration or “recalibrating” ones senses. In other words, LSVT- Lee Silvermann Voice Treatment improves communication by helping one to speak in a “normal” voice at a volume that others will hear and understand.

Another form of LSVT is LSVT BIG. This form of treatment helps to train individuals living with Parkinson’s to use their body more normally. Besides the speech symptoms, one can also experience an increased difficulty in moving and gestures and actions often become smaller. This treatment focuses on both the small and large motor skills as well as the emotional and cognitive changes that occur. Again, it helps the individual “recalibrate” or recognize when their movements are smaller or slower than they think.

Both LSVT LOUD and BIG treatments are delivered one-on-one by an occupational therapist or speech language pathologist and are customized to each person’s abilities and goals. St. Camillus offers Home Health, inpatient and outpatient therapies which allow you to customize your care plan to age, with choice. St. Camillus also offers both men’s and women’s Parkinson’s groups available to the public each month. If you have any questions on our services or would like more information, please call 414-259-6310.